I shouldn’t be, but I always am, surprised when I point out a very common animal and people have never seen one – or even heard of that kind of animal.
That happened several times this spring while I was running my common loon photo workshops. I had a family of woodchucks – a mother and five young – living on my property, and just about everyone taking the photo tours asked, “What is that?”
The woodchuck, also known as a groundhog (Marmota monax), is a large marmot in the squirrel family (Sciuridae). It is closely related to marmots commonly found in the western half of the United States. The woodchuck is found in the eastern half of the country, into Canada and reaching into Alaska. Unlike western marmots, which are high-elevation creatures, woodchucks are found at low elevations, typically in forested regions.
The etymology of their name is completely unrelated to wood or chucking. It comes from the Algonquian word for the animal, “wuchak.” They are also sometimes called whistle pig or ground pig – both names inspired by their overall chubby appearance. Either way, they’re a type of ground squirrel.
Woodchucks are considered the most solitary of the marmot species. They are crucial habitat engineers, meaning the burrows they dig help improve soil health. These intelligent critters often form complex social networks and lasting bonds with their young. They have sophisticated communication skills, well-defined social behavior, and work cooperatively when digging burrows.
Male woodchucks are larger than females. A single adult male weighs around 6 to 8 pounds, while females typically weigh 5 to 7 pounds. Both sexes put on a considerable amount of extra weight by the end of summer – a crucial survival strategy, as they are true hibernators. Once they go into hibernation in the fall, they don’t wake up until spring. If they don’t have enough body fat, or fuel, they can run out of energy and die during hibernation.
They put on all this weight on a vegetarian diet. Woodchucks eat only plants, including berries, but dandelions are at the top of their preferred foods. A single adult can eat about 1 pound of vegetation per day, and in the spring, most of that consists of dandelions. That’s good news for anyone who doesn’t like dandelions growing in their yard.
Woodchucks excavate underground burrows with multiple chambers. Some are for sleeping, one is used as a nursery, another as a latrine, and one is reserved for hibernation. While most burrows are only 6 to 10 feet long, one of the longest recorded was 24 feet.
People often mistakenly believe that burrows will undermine a foundation. But according to the Humane Society of the United States, you’d need a lot of woodchucks burrowing at the same time and in the same place over a long period to cause any significant damage.
Abandoned burrows provide shelter for a variety of other wildlife — including rabbits, raccoons, skunks, otters, chipmunks and more — and help aerate and enrich the soil. Based on my experience with a mother woodchuck and her five young, they were adorable neighbors who brought nothing but joy and life to my yard.
Until next time …
Editor’s note: Stan Tekiela’s NatureSmart column appears twice a month in the Eden Prairie Local News. Tekiela is an author, naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels extensively across the United States to study and capture wildlife images.
You can follow his work on Instagram and Facebook. He can be contacted via his website at www.naturesmart.com.
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